January 13th

Settlements Not an Obstacle to Peace? Get Serious ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Lara Friedman - (Opinion) January 11, 2012 - 1:00am Today, Peace Now released a new report entitled "Torpedoing the Two State Solution -- The Strategy of the Netanyahu Government," detailing a number of trends in settlement expansion that directly, and it seems, deliberately, undermine the viability of the two-state solution. » Read more

A Sad Basis in Fact ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nirit Anderman - (Film Review) January 13, 2012 - 1:00am One by one, the actors face the camera. Each is filmed in a different place, against a different landscape. The landscapes are simultaneously threatening and stunning. Though each actor tells a different story, each delivers it looking directly at the camera - directly at the viewer. And each recounts, in a precise and matter-of-fact way, a difficult incident experienced by the character he or she is portraying. Shlomi Elkabetz - David Adika - January 2012 » Read more

Hardliners See Opportunity to Create a ‘Greater Israel’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) January 13, 2012 - 1:00am This past year has dealt a heavy blow — perhaps even a terminal one — to the project, long supported by the international community, of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of two states. When the United States itself proved unable to halt Israel’s relentless land grab, it seemed that nothing and nobody could rein in Israel’s iron-willed ambition to expand its borders towards a ‘Greater Israel.’ » Read more

Two Israelis’ Identity Struggles ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Jordana Horn - (Film Review) January 12, 2012 - 1:00am The word “Israel” has been interpreted to mean “a struggle with God,” but 60 years of Israel as a Jewish nation has shown a country in perpetual struggle. As well as wars with its neighbors, Israel has grappled with its history and identity, and the implications of each for the other. Though not explicitly addressed, these issues are deeply felt by the subjects of two quite different biographical documentaries offered by the New York Jewish Film Festival: the leader of the legendary 1976 raid on Entebbe, and an Ethiopian Jewish immigrant on a personal odyssey. » Read more

Protecting Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post (Editorial) January 12, 2012 - 1:00am Critics were quick to attack the High Court of Justice’s decision Wednesday to uphold the Citizenship and Entry Law, which severely restricts the right of Palestinians married to Israelis to receive Israeli citizenship. Before rushing to accuse our highest court of discrimination, racism or worse, it would be instructive to recall how the Citizenship and Entry Law came about in the first place. » Read more

Israel, Palestinians Must Let Go of Justice and Join Reality ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Salman Masalha - (Opinion) January 13, 2012 - 1:00am The poet Taha Muhammad Ali, who recently passed away, revealed to us in one of his poems that it took him 60 years to realize that "water is the best of drinks / And bread is the tastiest of foods." Someone who takes so much time to understand reality can be tolerated. He's allowed to be backward and learn slowly; he'll write poems about that. But it's different when we're talking about the backwardness of a nation, and how much more so, its elected leadership. » Read more

Supreme Court Thrusts Israel Down the Slope of Apartheid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) January 13, 2012 - 1:00am The High Court of Justice's ruling Wednesday on the legality of the Citizenship Law proves the erosion of this institution's role as Israel's guardian of civil rights. Let's look at how the justices voted at the moment of truth on the law, which bans Palestinians from living in Israel with spouses who are Israeli citizens. » Read more

Fayyad Still Trying to Create State ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Jane Eisner - (Opinion) January 13, 2012 - 1:00am I was last in Ramallah a year and a half ago, and the change since then is striking. The headquarters of the once-feared Palestine Liberation Organization had been on the second floor of a nondescript office building above a furniture store; now it is in a gleaming office tower adjacent to the sprawling compound of the Palestinian Authority’s president. I’m not sure there is reason to fear the PLO anymore, but the organization certainly has a better address. » Read more

East Jerusalem Parks Plan ‘Fences in Palestinians’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - January 12, 2012 - 1:00am It is littered with rubbish thrown there by the residents of the two Palestinian neighbourhoods that bookend the 75-hectare slope, and it is besieged by the din of cars and lorries rumbling down the nearby road that connects central Jerusalem with the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim. » Read more

‘Hamas Can Have Officials in all Arab Capitals’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post January 12, 2012 - 1:00am Hamas has the right to have political representatives in all Arab capitals, Hamas-affiliated news outlet Al Resalah reported a senior Hamas official as saying, after Jordanian Prime Minister Awn Al-Khasawneh said Jordan is planning to allow Hamas leaders to reside in his country but not practice politics. "One cannot prevent the Hamas leadership from practicing politics because its aim is to protect the rights of the Palestinian people," Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk said. » Read more